“a digital tax account for businesses that now has more than 3 million users”

“a tax credits online renewal service which saw an 94% increase in users”

“the modernisation of existing IT services”

Mark Dearnley, HMRC’s Chief Digital and Information Officer, said that the department’s digital transformation is now “well underway”.

He said: “We are fundamentally changing our business and removing paper from every stage of our processes. Over the course of the next year and beyond, more and more of our customers will have access to a digital tax account and be able to do more with us online, simply, and at a time that suits them.”

As part of its digital makeover, HMRC has also announced a new third-party tax software and Application Programme Interface (API) strategy.

The department has said that it hopes to work more closely with software developers to allow them to introduce “more sophisticated products to the market”.

The API approach will see HMRC:

“promoting a ‘third-party software first’ approach for businesses and agents”

“giving greater access to APIs”

“sharing rules and logic”

“publishing performance figures”

“building richer APIs that enable third party products to work seamlessly with HMRC systems

Gauke said: “The API strategy recognises that it is important to work collaboratively with developers of tax software to help deliver high quality digital services for businesses and agents up and down the country.”